Improved washing and pressing machine



.j J UNITD STATES PATENT rricni.

. MOSES C. DAVIS AND LUTHER C. KEITH, OF FOLSOM, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVED WASHING AND PB ESSlNG MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,567, dated May 3, 1864.

To` @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that We, M. C. DAVIS and L. C. KEITH, both of Folsom, in the county of v4Sacramento and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Pressing and Washing Clothes, Ste. and we do hereby declare that the following is a full,

clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in

.view of vthe ascension and distributing pipe.

Similar letters of reference in the several views indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists in the arrangement of a furnace, hot-water tank, and pump, in combination with a sprinkler and reciprocating pressure-board operated by a hand-lever, connecting with toggle-,arms in such a manner that by the action of the hand-lever the pump is set in mot-ion, and a quantity of water from the tank is forced up on the sprinkler and discharged on the clothes hung under said sprinkler, and between it and the pressure-board, and at the same time a graduallyincreasing pressure is exerted on the clothes, thus alternately charging them with hot water, and squeezing them dry until all the dirt has been completely removed from the same.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe it. v

Arepresents a furnace, constructed of sheetmetal or any other suitable material, and provided on its top with a cavity oiftank, B, capable to receive water. The fire in the furnace strikes the tank on all sides, and the water in the same is heated in a short time, and with a small expenditure of fuel. The furnace is provided with a lire-door, a, in front, and a chimney, b, in the rear serves to carry oft' the products of combustion.

C is a pump, which is placed in the interior of the tank, and which is constructed on the anti-friction principle, consisting of a wooden box covered with a iiexible diaphragm, to

which a reciprocating motion can be. imparted. On raising` said diaphragm the air in the pum p-boX is rareiied, and the water from the tank enters through the valve C, and in de- .pressing the diaphragm the water contained in the box is forced out through the valve dand up through the pipe c, the upper end of which connects with a horizontal pipe or trough, j'. This trough is perforated with a large number of holes, through which the water is distributed and discharged on the sprinkler D. Said sprinkler consists of a iiat piece of boa: d or other suitable material, and it is hinged to a bracket, g, attached to one of the end plates of the furnace, said end plates being made to extend .above the tank, as clearly shown in Fig. 4t of the drawings. On being turned down, the sprinkler rests on a bracket, g', attached to the opposite end plate of -the furnace, and on a frame, E, which is supported by the brackets g g. Strips h, of wood or any suitable material, secured to the ends ot' the sprinkler, prevent ,the water running oft' endwise, and that side of the frame E which is opposite the trough j' also projects above the surface of the sprinkler, so that all the water discharged from the trough is compelled to pass through the perforations in sad sprinkler. A button, t', connecting with a suitable bolt, serves to lock the sprinkler an'l to connect it rigidly with the frame E.

Fis the pressure-board, which is suspended from the frame E by means of springs j, or by some iiexible material, in such a manner that it can readily be moved toward and from the sprinkler, and it is perforated with a large number of holes to allow the Water which runs down from the sprinkler to escape into the tank B below. Arod, k, connects the pressure-board with the diaphragm of the pump, causing the two to move simultaneously.

The motion of the pressureboard and diaphragm is effected by a hand-lever, l m, the inner ends ot' which are bent at right angles, so as to form elbow-levers, and the long arms Z of said elbow-levers are connected by a crossbar,which forms thehandle. The short arms m are connected to pins u, which project from the ends of the pressure-board through slots in the end plates of the furnace, and said handlever hasits fulcrums on pivots o in the ends of oscillating levers p, which are pivoted to the end plates near their bottom ends. ByV

these means a toggle arrangement is obtained whereby the pressure-board is forced up toward the sprinkler with gradually-increasing power. The pivots o, which work in the slotted end plates of the furnace, are provided with friction rollers q, so as to lessen the work of operating the machine.

The operation is as follows: After a lire L'as been -lighted in the furnace to heat a snfcient quantityof water in the tank, the

sprinkler is turned back or thrown open and the clothes a-re hung over the rods r, so that their lower ,edges will touch the pressureboard below when the springs j are fully distended. The vsprinkler is then replaced 1 '.and fastened down, Iand it holds the clothes firmly over the rods, so that the upward pressure will not displace lthem, and by imparting` to thehaad-lever an oscillating motion, the pump and the pressure-board are set in motion simultaneously. By the action of the pump a quantity of hot water from the tank is thrown on the sprinkler, and by the acl tion ofsaid sprinkler it is distributed over the clothes. flhe water thus sucked up by the c"othcs is squeezed out again by the action oi the pressure-board, and at the saine time by the expansion and contraction of the springs jthe position of the clothes is continually.A

changed, and they yare cleaned infthe most eX- peditious manner and without the least injury to the bers.

It must be remarked that our machine operates in a very different manner from ordinary washing-machines. Instead ofthe clothes being placed ina body of water and there operated upon by plungers or apressure-board, we put them in such a position that by the use of a simplyconstructed pump, acting alternately with a pressure-board,a column of water is continually forced through and pressed out of the clothes, and the operation of cleaning the clothes is thus effected in the easiest possible manner and in a short time.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Fatent, is-

1. The tank B and furnace A, in lcombination with the pump C, sprinkler D, and pressure-board F, constructed and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.- 2. The pressure-board F and pump C, in combination with the hand-lever Z, constructed and operating in the manner and for the purpose substantially as specified.

3. The hinged sprinkler D, in combination with the rabbeted frame E and rods r, constructed and operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The perforated trough f, in combination with the pump C and sprinkler D, constructed and operating as and for the purposes specitied.

Witnesses:

W. A. Roenes, JOHN MARTIN.' 

